| |
Terra |
|
| Alias: Tara Markov |
Titans Member
joined: New Teen Titans #30 [1983] |
|
| Terra I Quick Bio: Bold and brassy Tara Markov gained earth-manipulating abilities through Markovian scientist Dr. Jace. Adopting the name Terra, the bitter malcontent infiltrated the Titans as a member - while secretly acting as a spy for Deathstroke, the Terminator. After utterly betraying the Titans, Terra's own rage consumed her as she buried herself in a ton of debris. |
| Terra II Quick Bio: "Tara Markov" believed she was a nameless orphan injected with the first Terra's DNA by Lord Chaos. But when the smart-mouthed geomorph learned she did not originate from a false-future, she feared she may actually somehow be the first Terra - the psychotic traitor to the Titans. The second Terra's heroism ultimately led to her death when she and the Titans tried to stop Black Adam's worldwide rampage. |
Terra meets Changeling
in NEW TEEN
TITANS #26 [1982]. |
 |
|
|
TERRA & THE TITANS |
 |
|
(also see below for info on Terra II)
Early Tremors
Terra meets the Titans in NEW TEEN TITANS #28 [1983] |
|
|
| Terra's duplicity is revealed in NEW TEEN TITANS #34 [1983]. |
|
|
Tara Markov was the illegitimate daughter of the King of Markovia, who sent her to the United States in order to avoid a scandal. Tara's royal blood gave her the ability to gain earth-moving powers, which she did, with the help of Dr. Helga Jace, who used the same process to make Prince Brion, Tara's half-brother, into the hero known as Geo-Force.
It is unclear how or when her earth-manipulating abilities were acquired, or how much ‘help' Dr. Jace was; Jace referred to Terra's acquisition of her powers as ‘meddling' – hinting she may not have had full permission to acquire said powers. Sometime after she acquired these abilities, she left Markovia to embark on her own.
Terra joins the team in NEW TEEN TITANS #30 [1983] |
|
Was it all an act? Terrs shows signs of true emotion in NEW TEEN TITANS #34 [1983] |
|
|
Tara was full of rage and hate, which may have stemmed from the fact that she was an illegitimate daughter to a king (a fact that made her an ‘embarrassment'). She was only fifteen when she had a reputation for using her powers to do others' dirty work, if the price was right. She picked up an assignment turned down by Deathstroke, the Terminator – to kill a powerful African tribesman. She took the assignment, became friendly with the king and joined his family. Tara ended up killing him.
It was through this assignment that Tara eventually hooked up with the Terminator, who used her to fulfill his contract with the H.I.V.E., regarding the destruction of the New Teen Titans. Tara adopted the name "Terra" and fabricated a story of being held hostage by terrorists, although the story itself had many holes and inconsistencies.
Between a Rock and a Titans Place
Changeling, who met Terra when she was attempting to destroy the Statue of Liberty, invited her to join the Titans. Gar quickly developed a crush on her, and Terra performed well with the group in order to perpetuate the lie. Terra was reunited, albeit briefly, with Geo-Force when the Titans teamed up with the Outsiders against the Fearsome Five.
Terra and Slade plot against the Titans in NEW TEEN TITANS #39 [1984] |
|
|
Terra fought a partially rigged battle against the Terminator, which served to win over the Titans. Despite Raven's suspicions, Terra was inducted into the group and made privy to their secrets. Once she had all the information she needed, the traitorous Terra gave it to the Terminator, who used the knowledge to kidnap the Titans and take them to the H.I.V.E. base near the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
During a pitched battle in the H.I.V.E. complex, Jericho possessed his father's body, thereby freeing the Titans, and began fighting Terra. Feeling betrayed and thinking that the Deathstroke was turning against her, Terra went crazy and brought the complex down on herself. Despite this fact, she was buried with a Titan's funeral.
Terra's betrayal was never made public, and the superhero community believed she died a hero. Batman later disclosed Terra's crimes to her half-brother Geo-Force. Brion became so distraught that he changed his costume from the tan and brown arrangement which resembled Terra's to a green and yellow Geo-Force suit.
Terra delivers Nightwing to the H.I.V.E. in NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #3 [1984]. |
|
|
Terra II: Rock On
Years later, another Terra appeared, claiming to be a time-tossed adventurer from the future. She believed that she was an orphan girl injected with the original Terra's D.N.A. and made to look like Terra with reconstructive surgery. However, a mysterious orb from the Time Trapper cast dispersions on this story; The Time Trapper revealed that this new Terra was indeed from this timeline. Terra II also unearthed the original Terra's coffin to find it empty.
While staying in Markovia, Terra II had the Markovian scientists conduct a D.N.A. test to discover, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if she was the original Terra. Terra II was frightened at the prospect that she could be this psychopathic traitor. Her ‘brother' Geo-Force received the test results. He mercifully told Terra that the results are negative, when they were, in fact, postive. At the present time, Geo-Force is the only one aware of this information. The second Terra's heroism ultimately led to her death when she and the Titans tried to stop Black Adam's worldwide rampage.
(also see below for info on Terra II)
Terra had control over the Earth and often flew on a chunk of rock to reach her destination. Terra could transform the consistency of earth and rock, cause earthquakes, tap into lava flows, and create shapes out of solid rock.
DC Secret Files, supplemented by titanstower.com
top of page
| |
Terra II |
|
| Alias: Tara Markov |
Titans Member
first appeared as Team Titan in New Titans #79;
joined New Titans in New Titans #0 |
|
|
TERRA II |
 |
|
|
Future Shock-Rock
| Lord Chaos creates a new Terra in TEAM TITANS #1 [1992]. |
|
|
Terra II's story began 10 years in the future; Or, rather, the false future where Lord Chaos reigned and a force known as the Team Titans struggled to overthrow his tyranny. Lord Chaos sought to destroy the rebels known as the Team Titans.
Lord Chaos schemed to plant a spy in their group and infiltrate them from within. Chaos' men broke into a rebel hospital, and kidnapped a girl who bore a passing resemblance to the original Tara Markov. Chaos extracted the residual DNA from the first Tara's bones and injected it into the girl, giving her earth powers like the original Terra. His scientists then planted false memories in her brain, so she believed herself to be the daughter of Brion Markov (Tara's brother, the hero known as Geo-Force).
| Terra breaks free of Chaos, as her origin is recounted in TEAM TITANS #1 [1992]. |
|
|
| The Team Titans mysterious leader gives the order to kill Troy in NEW TITANS #80 [1991]. |
|
|
|
Gar Logan and Deathstroke
react to the second Terra in
TEAM TITANS #1 [1992]. |
|
|
Geo-Force meets the second Terra in
OUTSIDERS #17 [1995] |
|
As a final touch, the doctors gave her plastic surgery, making her a dead ringer for the original Terra. This Tara was brainwashed into serving Chaos. Chaos thought her ties to the original Titans would easily ingratiate her into these new Team Titans (apparently, there were no records of the first Terra's betrayal of the Titans). Chaos' assumption was correct; She successfully infiltrated the Team Titans. Before she could reveal their location, however, the Team Titans' leader discovered her duplicity.
The Teamers used a cerebro mind probe to discover the truth about her. Even they were shocked to discover the horrors Chaos was capable of. Tara's body would reject the DNA in a matter of weeks; she would die. Chaos gave this no thought, as long as she was useful to him. At this time, Tara also discovered that she was not Brion Markov's daughter, and was merely a pawn of Chaos. With super-computer Prestor Jon's help, the DNA would not be rejected by her body; she would not die. Having learned the truth, she joined the Teamers in battle with Lord Chaos. She proved herself to be a valuable member, finally free of Chaos' influence. She was quickly offered membership into the Team Titans, and accepted.
Back to the Past
Shortly thereafter, the Team Titans leader gave the team a mission: travel 10 years into the past to stop Chaos from ever being born. To accomplish this, the Teamers were assigned to kill Donna Troy before she would give birth to the child who would become Lord Chaos! The Teamers successfully traveled to the past and came into conflict with the Titans. Donna gave birth to her son before the Teamers could intervene. However, the Titans and the Team Titans were able to stop Chaos and spare Donna's life at the same time.
After this, the Teamers found themselves stranded in the past, unable to return to their future. With nowhere else to go, they resided at Donna Troy's New Jersey farmhouse. The Teamers tried to find a place in this new world. Tara also found herself attracted to Changeling, who was rather unnerved by her appearance. Geo-Force also sought out Terra II to discern if the girl was his sister, somehow back from the grave. Geo-Force wanted to believe this well-meaning heroine was in fact, his sister, but evidence suggested otherwise. Blood relation or not, Geo-Force was proud to regard the time-tossed teen as his sister, Tara. In fact, he surmised that she was a better person than his real sister ever was.
Terra's World Is Rocked
Soon, the Teamers lives were disrupted by the time crisis known as Zero Hour. It was then revealed that the Team Titans leader in the future was the villainous Monarch - who created a false future world so he could train meta-humans (The Team Titans) to act as sleeper agent assassins. He knew of the impending time crisis, and wanted a super-powered army at his command. The time-villain Extant commanded all the Team Titans to attack the heroes who were trying to unravel this time crisis. His plan was thwarted; the heroes contained the Teamers. Time continued to collapse, erasing the false timelines that had emerged. As a result, all the Team Titans were erased from existence.
The Time Trapper reveals the truth: Terra, Mirage and Deathwing are from this timeline!
From NEW TITANS ANNUAL #11 [1995]. |
|
|
Strangely enough, three people remained unscathed from Monarch's false timeline: Tara Markov (Terra II), Miriam Delgado (Mirage) and Deathwing (who was believed to be a future Dick Grayson). Terra and Mirage remained members of a new Titans team, led by Arsenal. Shortly after the team was reformed, a strange orb appeared, with messages for Mirage and Terra.
The orb was sent by the Time Trapper, who revealed that Mirage, Deathwing and Terra were from this timeline, not an alternate timeline, as they had thought - which is why they survived the time crisis. Mirage was actually a runaway street urchin from Brazil. Mirage had been implanted with false memories by the Time Trapper and turned into a "sleeper agent" who would fight the villainous Monarch in the coming Zero Hour event. The Time Trapper also revealed that Terra was from this timeline as well. The Trapper explained: "Terra, you come from this time period. I found you moments befo--". At that point, Terra destroyed the orb, not wanting to know the truth about her past.
| Terra gets the shock of her life in NEW TITANS ANNUAL #11 [1995] |
|
|
Curious about the Time Trapper's message, Terra visited the first Terra's graveside soon after, only to find an empty coffin! Could this new Terra actually be the original, traitorous Titan? Was her origin in Chaos' false future a complete and utter sham? What was the Time Trapper about to reveal concerning her past? These questions have plagued this second Tara Markov, and she was unsure if she even wanted to discover the true answers.
Shortly after this, the Titans group disbanded. Following that, Terra II took up residence in Markovia, the homeland of Terra I.
What On Earth Is the Truth?
While staying in Markovia, Terra II had the Markovian scientists conduct a D.N.A. test to discover, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if she was the original Terra. Terra II was frightened at the prospect that she could be this psychopathic traitor. Her brother Geo-Force received the test results. He mercifully told Terra that the results are negative, when they were, in fact, postive. At the present time, Geo-Force is the only one aware of this information.
| Terra fears the truth behind her DNA test in Titans Secret Files #2 [2000] |
|
|
| Terra is brutally killed by Black Adam in WORLD WAR III: HELL IS FOR HEROES [2007]. |
|
|
Soon after, Gar Logan's obnoxious cousin Matt took it upon himself to hold a membership drive party for an all-new Titans West. Gar finally agreed to have the team re-form, and Titans West was re-dubbed Titans L.A. - with members that included Beast Boy, Flamebird, Herald, Bumblebee, Terra, Hero Cruz, Captain Marvel Jr. and Bushido.
But Titans LA was short-lived; Eventually, the new West Coast group of Titans dissolved before it even truly began.
Rock Out
With the murders of Black Adam's innocent wife, Isis, and her brother, Osiris, The Black Marvel Family was destroyed. Seeking vengeance for those responsible, Black Adam cut a swath of destruction across the globe, igniting a world war.
In an attempt to stop Black Adam, Beast Boy and his rag-tag Titans team fought valiantly to contain his rampage. The battle had a terrible cost; Both Terra and Young Frankenstein lost their lives to Black Adam's fury. In the end, Terra proved she was nothing like the first Terra. She was a true hero.
Terra has control over the Earth and often flew on a chunk of rock to reach her destination. Terra can transform the consistency of earth and rock, cause earthquakes, tap into lava flows, and create shapes out of solid rock.
DC Secret Files, supplemented by titanstower.com
Top of Page
New Teen Titans #26 [1982]: After the Titans return, Kid Flash goes home to Blue Valley and Changeling meets Terra on top of the Statue of Liberty, which she is trying to destroy. First appearance of Terra.
New Teen Titans #28 [1983]: Changeling captures Terra and brings her to Titans' Tower, where she claims that she has been committing crimes for terrorists who are holding her parents captive; Terra and the Titans confront her parents' supposed captors.
New Teen Titans #30 [1983]: The New Brotherhood of Evil follows Raven; Terra suddenly decides that she wants to be a Titan; ; While the Titans return to Titans' Tower, where Robin says that Terra can join the group, Raven seeks solitude in St. Peter's Cathedral, where the New Brotherhood of Evil finds her; During the Titans' and the New Brotherhood of Evil's battle in Times Square on New Year's Eve; The New Brotherhood of Evil takes Raven to Zandia; Terry Long proposes to Donna Troy. Terra joins the Titans this issue.
New Teen Titans #34 [1983]: Terra is unhappy on her sixteenth birthday because she does not feel like a Titan; The Terminator holds a stockbroker hostage in exchange for the Titans; Terra and the Titans battle him, with Terra coming out looking like the hero; She later meets with the Terminator, revealing herself as his accomplice in his contract with the H.I.V.E. Terra revealed as a traitor.
New Teen Titans #37 and Batman and the Outsiders #5 [1983]: Fearsome Five member Gizmo breaks his villain group out of prison; Under Psimon's leadership, the Fearsome Five kidnap Dr. Helga Jace and force her to make them a group of Mud Men to help in their battles; Dick Grayson tells Bruce Wayne that he wants to terminate their heroic partnership; The Titans and the Outsiders team up to defeat the Fearsome Five after the villains expel Dr. Light from the group and attempt to kill him; Robin chafes under Batman's leading the two groups in battle and takes over, proving that Robin does not always have to be in Batman's shadow. Terra is reunited with her brother, Geo-Force, in this story.
New Teen Titans #39 [1984]: Terra and the Terminator plot the fall of the Titans. Wally West decides to quit being Kid Flash, leaves his ring and costume with the Titans, and returns to Blue Valley; Dick Grayson gives up his Robin identity, turning Titan leadership over to Wonder Girl; Terra's contact lens camera relays Robin's and Kid Flash's civilian identities to the Terminator. Last appearance of Dick Grayson as Robin. Kid Flash leaves the team.
Tales of the Teen Titans #42-44, Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3 [1984] "The Judas Contract": Terra gives her collected information on the Titans to Deathstroke, who captures each of the teen heroes and delivers them to the H.I.V.E., except Dick Grayson. Joseph and Adeline Wilson confront Dick at Titans' Tower, telling him of Terra's association with the Terminator, who brings the Titans to the H.I.V.E.'s Rocky Mountain headquarters. Dick Grayson learns the origin of The Terminator and about the accident that made his son Joseph a mute; Dick becomes Nightwing and agrees to let Adeline and Joseph accompany him to the H.I.V.E. base after Joseph takes the identity of Jericho and "possesses" him. They help free the Titans, but not before Terra kills herself. This event is catalogued as "The Judas Contract." First Dick Grayson as Nightwing in issue #44. First appearance of Joe Wilson in issue #42, as Jericho in issue #44. Death of Terra in Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3.
New Titans #79 [1991]: Donna fades away with a mysterious figure [as part of a War of the Gods crossover]. Deathstroke, Dayton, Pantha, Phantasm and Arella plan their next move. Councilwoman Elizabeth Alderman begins her crusade against the Titans as a platform in her bid for mayor. A mysterious group of teenagers try to track down Donna Troy in an attempt to kill her. On the last page, one of those teenagers is revealed as Terra! This issue features the first appearance of the Team Titans. Story continued in New Titans Annual #7 [which establishes the backstory of the Team Titans].
New Titans Annual #7 and New Titans #80 [1991]: Waverider leaves an unconscious Nightwing to meet Joe Wilson, while in the future, a mysterious leader details his plans to his Team Titans: they will go back in time to eliminate Donna Troy before she can give birth to her son, who will turn out to be Lord Chaos. Lord Chaos vows to follow them to the past and insure his future.
New Titans #86-87 [1992]: The Team Titans continue to hunt Donna Troy while Lord Chaos, having seized control of a corporation, plots to stop them. Donna Troy learns she is pregnant. Terra II makes herself known to Changeling.
Total Chaos: New Titans #90-92, Team Titans #1-3, Deathstroke #14-16 [1992]: The Team Titans have been sent to the past to kill the pregnant Troia before she gives birth to her son, who could become a god-powered dictator named Lord Chaos in the future. The Team is defeated, and Troia, having lost her powers, gives birth to a normal baby boy. Mirage of the Team Titans kidnaps Starfire and impersonates her so that she can date Nightwing. Team Titans #1 is released in five different versions, but unlike variant cover gimmicks, all five are double-sized while selling for the regular price. Although all contain a common story, each also includes a different full-length origin story for a group member [Origins of Mirage, Terra II, Nightrider, Redwing and Killowat].
New Titans #0, 115 [1994]: Under government control, Arsenal leads a new team of Titans, including Impulse, Damage, Green Lantern, Darkstar, Mirage, and Terra. Government funded and based in New Jersey. Changeling betrays the team. First issue with new Titans members Terra II, Mirage, Impulse and Damage having already joined the team.
Outsiders #17 [1995]: Geo-Force comes to blows with Arsenal and Green Lantern when he demands to meet their teammate 'Terra', who looks exactly like his dead sister. Donna Troy [Darkstar] intervenes, breaks up the fight and convinces Terra II to talk to Geo-Force. Terra II tells Geo-Force she is not his sister, but before that can talk further she is captured by a giant robot. Geo-Force and the Titans later rescue Terra and learn she's been kidnapped by a Markovian group of scientists looking to duplicate her powers. Geo-Force and Terra II talk, and Geo-Force wants to get to know her, despite the fact she is not his real sister. Geo-Force later visits the first Terra's grave and tells her he is closer to the new Terra than he ever was with her.
New Titans Annual #11 [1995]: A YEAR ONE tale featuring Arsenal's Titans team. The Time Trapper reveals Mirage, Deathwing and Terra are all from this timeline. Mirage is a street urchin from Brazil. Terra destroys the Time Trapper's message before it reveals her origins, and later unearths the original Terra's coffin to find it empty. Minion adjusts to like on earth. Supergirl recounts how she first met Arsenal and when she was asked to join the team.
The Titans Secret Files #2 [2000]: It's the debut of Titans LA in an astonishing all-new Special. Whether he wants it or not, Beast Boy finds himself saddled with a new West Coast branch of the Titans. But it may be the new team's final appearance as well if Fear and Loathing and the madcap Harlequin have their say. First Titans L.A. Titans LA members include Beast Boy, Flamebird, Herald, Bumblebee, Terra, Hero Cruz, and Captain Marvel Jr. In another story, Terra finally finds out exactly who she is...though the truth may not be what she wanted to hear. Geo-Force learns her DNA matches the original Terra! Contains profile pages showcase the new Titans lineup, and new villains - including the Hangmen and Epsilon.
World War III: Hell Is For Heroes [2007]: The Titans - Beast Boy, Raven, Zatara, Offspring, Talon, Young Frankenstein, Hawk & Dove and Terra - confront a rampaging Black Adam in Greece. Black Adam brutally kills both Young Frankenstein and Terra.
top of page
|
Creating Terra: A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing |
 |
| A 2004 commission of Terra by George Pérez. |
 |
| A 2005 commission of Terra by Jeff Moy. |
"I can't wait until they see what we have planned. I told Chris [Claremont] about this a while ago, before anyone knew we were doing Terra. "Wait until you see this, everyone's going to say ‘Kitty Pryde."' And just wait until you see, that's all I'm going to say. I'm very pleased with what we are planning with her. Chris knows, and I hope he doesn't say anything. She was very well planned out in the beginning, and very specifically, I've been doing something for my own self. I've been leading readers for the last six, seven months to the typical comic book cliche that everyone expects, and then twisting it at the last second. Terra is one of those." - Marv Wolfman
Shocking Fans
The story of Terra was far different than what many expected, and its shattering culmination in the third annual brought many interesting aspects to light. "George and I knew exactly where it was going. She was set up specifically to make the readers think that we were doing a Kitty Pryde story [laughs], and then suddenly switch it on them when it was revealed she was a traitor. Lead the readers to think that she was going to reform, as every person has ever done here. Then, of course, not only not have her reform, but have her die. The reader was, we hope, taken by surprise. You notice DC did no publicity whatsoever that she died."
"I enjoyed playing the game for two years," Wolfman says. "Whenever anyone would ask "Is a Titan going to die?' I said no. [laughs] And I was honest about it, because in my mind she was never a Titan, and she wasn't even a traitor. She was a very sick person. At the same time, we knew we could sell 50,000 more copies if we had said a Teen Titan dies in the annual. We weren't interested in that. We wanted the shock of the story."
"People did not know where it was going. Not even the diehard Titans fans who I see at conventions, who have magazines about the Titans that I read. All of them speculated that Terra was going to reform at the last minute and turn on the Terminator. Of course we had that in there, too, but for a totally different reason. The cover was created specifically to let you wonder which side she was going to take, not realizing that she was going against both."
An aspect that's particularly noticeable is the path that leads to Tara Markov's emotional and physical suicide. The fact is, as the story states, she has no reason for being what she became. Yet it's interesting to note a curious parallel between Terra's roots and the roots of Wonder Girl, namely that they're both bastard children. In exploring this, we see how simply and ingeniously Wolfman and Pérez have utilized traditional story devices while avoiding their cliched traps.
"What we didn't want to do is state that because she was this or because she was that, she was evil," Wolfman says. "There are people who are just not nice. They could be brought up in the best situations or whatever, it won't make a difference. Wonder Girl was brought up in an identical situation, only she turned out good. There was absolutely nothing in Terra's background that should have made her the type of character she was."
Puncturing Balloons
Marv Wolfman talks about creating the Judas Contract storyline: I love puncturing balloons, and I decided if some fans thought we were an X-Men clone, then why not play with them a bit? The X-Men had just introduced a new member to their group, a young 14-year-old cute-as-a-button girl with incredible powers. I'd do the same. I'd play her first as a villain, then seemingly reform her and have her join the Titans. Only I'd have her constantly lie to the Titans, change her stories, do suspicious things, and, in general, make her a louse. I could do that, I knew, because comic book convention would demand that readers ignore all the evidence and assume she was a good girl. After all, the X-Men's Kitty Pryde was a heroine, so even the lying, cheating, conniving Tara Markov had to have a heart of gold.
 |
| A Who's Who entry by Pérez. |
Right?
Wrong. From the very beginning Tara was conceived as a villainess. It was the first time a member of a super-hero group ever proved to be a spy (not a traitor-she was always working for The Terminator). Playing on the comic readers' expectations worked.
The Tara Markov story threw everyone for a loop. Reader response ranged from hailing the stories as a Titans high point to "How dare you make her evil," (as if I had ever given the readers any reason to think she wasn't) to "For what you did to Tara Markov, I am going to kill you." We sent that death-threat to the police. Unlike our pen-and-ink created heroes and heroines, the writers and artists of the Titans are all too mortal.
George Pérez on Terra [courtesy of Amazing Heroes]
GEORGE: Tara was just a cute little girl, although I based a little bit of that on my wife Carol's sister, Barbara. A little upturned nose... Barbara does not have the teeth that Tara had. I wanted Tara to be a girl who looked normal. Which also means her death caught everyone even more offguard.
Tara, she was made to be killed; she served her purpose. That was it.
ANDY: You didn 't get any attachment to Tara?
GEORGE: No, because I knew we were going to kill her. So I deliberately used all the things to make her as likeable and cute as possible, so people would never believe we were going to kill a sixteen-year-old. And she was a sixteen-year-old sociopath. She was one of our cleverest gimmicks; we deliberately created her in order to lead everyone astray. So we couldn't build any fondness for her, 'cause we knew full well what her whole motive for existence was. Her existence was basically to keep the stories interesting; we were tossing a curve that no one would have expected.
ANDY: You didn 't even love to hate her, huh?
GEORGE: No. I loved handling her, because she was such a good idea. But she was an idea. Not as much a person. She was there to show exactly how much their humanity can be one thing they have to be careful about, the Teen Titans have to be careful about. . . they can be too trusting, or their own weaknesses can be used against them.
top of page
One of the more controversial elements of the Team Titans was the inclusion of Terra, patterned after the character who died several years ago in Titans. "I always swore that the original Terra would never come back," Marv Wolfman said. "The power is a good power, but I thought it would be interesting to make Terra work in a logical fashion, yet not be Terra."
 |
| A 2002 commission of Terra by Kevin Maguire. |
 |
| A 2004 convention sketch of Terra by Phil Jimenez. |
She's Dead
We've been very careful in The New Titans-when we say they're dead, they're dead! "Now, that brings up Terra!" laughs Wolfman. The one-time traitorous Titan was killed years ago, but has turned up alive in the current storyline-or has she?
"All I can say is that this is somebody named Terra who has similar powers, though not identical. She looks the same, and answers to that name, but it's very clearly said in the last Titans Anneal that this is not the same Terra. The explanations for all that are coming at some point-I've got them roughly worked out. It is not Tara Markov, [the Terra] who was killed. What she is and why she answers to the name Terra, how she got her powers and why she looks the same is all part of the story. Titans fans may get angry at things, but we we never lied to them."
"I also liked how she could upset the apple cart in the present: What it does to her relationship with Changeling, what it does to Deathstroke-who had a 16-year-old kid for a lover for a brief time, back when he was a little more vicious; what it does to everything! Terra is a wild card, because even she doesn't know some of her own programming, or who she was in her time period. I was pleased with the character's addition from the shock value to the readers to making it work correctly without bringing back the original Terra or making her [the Outsiders'] Geo-Force's daughter. This uses everything."
Marv Wolfman: I will say I had promised the old Terra was dead. She is. The new Terra in no way is the old Terra. She's not cloned from the old Terra. Not her sister, relative or anything else. She had no conenction with the old Terra.
She's Alive!
Zero Hour: Team Titans wiped out
Extant sought to use the time disruption to his advantage. His plan was thwarted; the heroes contained the Teamers. Time continued to collapse, erasing the false timelines that had emerged. As a result, all the Team Titans were erased from existence! Strangely enough, three people remained unscathed from Monarch's false timeline: Tara Markov (Terra II), Miriam Delgado (Mirage) and Deathwing (who was believed to be a future Dick Grayson). Terra and Mirage remained members of a new Titans team, led by Arsenal (Roy Harper).
Titans Annual #11: The questions begin
Shortly after the team was reformed, a strange orb appeared, with messages for Mirage and Terra. The orb was sent by the Time Trapper. The Time Trapper revealed that Mirage, Deathwing and Terra were from this timeline, NOT an alternate timeline, as they had thought. That is why they survived the time crisis. Mirage was a runaway street urchin from Brazil. The Time Trapper kidnapped her and implanted false memories in her brain; she believed she grew up in Monarch's false timeline. The Trapper became aware of Extant's petty manipulations of time, and set up his own sleeper agents (Terra, Mirage and Deathwing) that would be able to fight Extant's programming. The Time Trapper also revealed that Terra was from this timeline as well. The Trapper explained: "Terra, you come from this time period. I found you moments befo--". At that point, Terra destroyed the orb, not wanting to know the truth about her past.
Terra was curious about what the Time Trapper's message might have said. She visited the first Terra's graveside soon after... only to find an empty coffin! Could this new Terra actually be the original, traitorous Titan? Was her origin in Chaos' false future a complete and utter sham? What was the Time Trapper about to reveal concerning her past? These questions have plagued this second Tara Markov, and she was unsure if she even wanted to discover the true answers. Shortly after this, the Titans group disbanded. Following that, Terra II took up residence in Markovia, the homeland of Terra I.
Marv on hints that Terra II is Terra I: "The editor at the time [Pat Garhhy] insisted we do that story. I didn't want to, even though it was agreed on in advance the new Terra would NOT be related in any way to the old. I just didn't see any reason to bring it up again. At about this time I asked off the title. My contract brought me to issue #130 and I saw no reason to bring up the Terra situation again in the limited time we had. "
Titans Secret Files #2: Answers, but not final answers
While staying in Markovia, Terra II had the Markovian scientists conduct a D.N.A. test to discover, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if she was the original Terra. Terra II was frightened at the prospect that she could be this psychopathic traitor. Her Ôbrother' Geo-Force (Brion) received the test results. He mercifully tells Terra that the results are negative. As Terra leaves, Brion looks at the results: the D.N.A. test is positive. The most recent Terra is indeed the original, somehow rescued from death by the Time Trapper. At the present time, Geo-Force is the only one aware of this information.
This story was supposed to provide the 'definitive' answer. This is comics, however, and a D.N.A. test proves little; she could be a clone or from an alternate timeline [we only have Time Trapper's word that she is from this timeline]. Titans Secret Files #2 also featured the introduction of TITANS L.A., which Terra II was a member. Jay Faerber comments: "The reason there was so much set up for TITANS LA in the pages of TITANS SECRET FILES #2 is because, at that time, TITANS editor Eddie Berganza and his associate, Maureen McTigue, really thought the TITANS LA concept was going to get approved, and this was their way of putting out a little preview, to serve as a lead-in. But TITANS LA ended up not getting approved, so all the set up in TITANS SECRET FILES #2 was for naught. " So the revelation in SECRET FILES might have had a planned follow-up in that series.
Is Terra II the same Terra who betrayed the team? We may never know for sure!
top of page
Team Titans Series Overview
Team Titans #1 to 24, September 1992 to September 1994
|
| The Team Titans - From DC Cosmic Teams Card Set, 1993 |
The Future Is Now
The "Titans Hunt" storyline included the introduction of the Team Titans, a group of time-tossed teenagers from a bleak future ruled by Lord Chaos. Introduced in New Titans #79 [1991], a mysterious group of teenagers was trying to track down Donna Troy in an attempt to kill her. On the last page, the Team Titans membership is revealed: Mirage, Redwing, Nightrider, Killowat - and Terra! This last page shocker was followed-up in New Titans Annual #7, where the alternate future world of the Team Titans was established. Given orders by a mysterious leader, The Team Titans were sent back in time to eliminate Donna Troy before she could give birth to her son, who will turn out to be Lord Chaos. The Teamers' arrival in the present is detailed in New Titans #80.
 |
A 2004 convention sketch of Terra
by TEAM TITANS artist, Terry Dodson. |
When the Team Titans were created for the 1991 New Titans Annual, writer Marv Wolfman said he had no idea that the group would get their own title. Editor Jonathan Peterson suggested that the annual feature Nightwing leading a Titans group in the future. "I didn't just want to have him lead a group fighting Monarch, and I realized it would be more exciting to develop a parallel story," recalled Wolfman. "Rarely can you come up with many characters all at once that work, but in this case, all the characters and their origins jelled quickly. It was very much like when I did the original Teen Titans group. They came one right after another. The Team Titans were all designed by [artist] Tom Grummett, and we realized we had more than an annual story. There was immediate interest at DC, because the characters worked. So, we figured out a way to bring these characters back into our present."
The Team Titans continued to track Donna Troy in New Titans #85-89 [1992], as Terra II made herself known to Changeling - while Mirage made her own plans to win the heart of Nightwing. As Donna's pregnancy accelerated, it led into a final three-way conflict with the Team Titans, New Titans and Lord Chaos. Team Titans #1-3 featured a crossover with New Titans #90-92 and Deathstroke #14-16 called "Total Chaos." The Team Titans first clashed and then teamed up with the Titans to ultimately defeat Lord Chaos.
Team Titans was written by Marv Wolfman and #1-3 featured art by Kevin Maguire. Later, art chores were assumed by Phil Jimenez with issue #7. Wolfman left the title with issue #12.
Wolfman later reflected on his Team Titans tenure in a titanstower.com interview: " Jonathan Peterson asked me to do a one-shot annual featuring these alternate universe characters. I came up with them for a one-shot only and somehow they get put into their own book. Had I known that was going to happen I would have spent a lot more time working on them so they could sustain a book. I never thought they should be their own title as they were a one-note concept. The Team Titans title was not one of my favorites. I did like the individual members, though, and I really liked what I did with their origin stories. It's just the book itself never should have been published."
X-Force-Fitting The Team Titans
Extant's manipulations of the
Team Titans unfold in ZERO HOUR [1994] |
 |
|
|
Jeff Jensen and Phil Jimenez co-wrote the book starting with #13 until its cancellation with #24 [1994]. The last few issues of the book featured art by Terry Dodson.
The book seemed to be conceived as an answer to Marvel's popular X-Force, with its teenage warriors and tough drill sergeant mentor/leader (Battalion subbing for X-Force's Cable). The concept never caught on with readers and the book was ultimately canceled. The Team Titans' fate was revealed in Zero Hour, where their timeline collapsed, thus erasing all the characters from existence (except Terra, Mirage and Deathwing).
Jimenez later reflected of his Team Titans tenure on an AOL chat: "I signed on to do a particular kind of self-aware, kitschy project while the higher ups wanted the new X-Force - and everything we had planned got screwed up by Zero Hour - none of which were particularly good for the team, DC Comics, or my career. We had originally intended to explore various things with the Team; Mirage's psycho pregnancy; Killowat's subtle racism, the possibility that Terra was a lesbian earth elemental. Kole was Marv's doing, not mine and we had to explain her away. In our original plan, the Team Titans were from an alternate time line and Terra was that time line's Earth elemental and she was going to be a lesbian."
"Mirage was going to go nuts during her pregnancy, and try to shape change it out of existence and it would be invulnerable to that, and she'd eventually kill herself. Mirage was never a favorite. But I found the drama of her after-rape period ripe with possibilities."
"We were going to explore the Joker's Daughter angle. We were going to find out that the Joker's Daughter was insane - that her memories of the Titans (now non-continuity) were just ravings in her head. She was going to steal the Time Commander's hourglass and reshape Manhattan into the island that she remembered, recreating a 70's world of heroes, villains, and icons that the Titans would find themselves in."
Alternate Futures
The Team Titans seemed full of possibilities - and missed opportunities. Kole returned in the pages of Team Titans only to mysteriously disappear. Phil Jimenez's plans for the book were contrary to DC's vision. The Joker's Daughter appeared in issue #13 - and was never seen again. And then there's the Team Titans leader...
The idea of Monarch as the leader of the Team Titans seemed like a last minute Zero Hour shuffle - and it was. Phil Jimenez revealed as much, "We were told to write that this second Kole, as well as nearly every other character we introduced in Team Titans, was a creation of Extant/Monarch, in order to lead the Titans down the path they would need to be super-powered assassins. So Kole was nothing more than an Extant-created construct."
But who was intended as the original Team Titans leader? It was actually the much-loathed Danny Chase. "That was part of the idea of making Danny Chase tolerable," editor Jonathan Peterson admitted in a 2005 interview with titanstower.com. "We could make him like John Conner from Terminator 2. He goes from whiny kid to leader of the rebellion."
Perhaps the most interesting angle to the Team Titans was editor Jonathan Peterson's original plan, " I thought, if Marvel has X-Men and New Mutants, we should do the same, so Marv said, “Okay, so we’ll have a new Teen Titans,” and then Kevin Maguire suggested we alter it, and call it Team Titans. "
"[...] I wanted to get the Teen Titans back, so I explained my whacked out idea. I really wanted Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Changeling, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg back to what they were originally, so I wanted to do an alternate dimension or timeline, and I turned to Kevin and said “You get to launch an all-new Titans book and design them from the ground up.” Not only that, but this alternate universe would have an alternate young Robin, and alternate young Starfire and all the rest. The plan for Team Titans was a secret one. With the first Team Titans Annual, or at the end of the first 12 issues, I told Kevin he would then be re-launching the Teen Titans with alternate versions of the core-seven members."
"My plan there was to have those members slowly grow in those twelve issues. They would grow or move on or be phased out. That would lead into the first Annual. That Annual would introduce our alternate [universe], younger Teen Titans. The book would change it’s title to Teen Titans and feature the alternate, younger versions of those core-seven Titans. That was the plan."
Short List of Notable Appearances
Team Titans #1-24
Team Titans Annual #1-2
New Titans #79-80, 85-92
New Titans Annual #7
Deathstroke #14-16
Zero Hour #0-4
top of page
|
